The 41 Lex Autocentres put on the market by Lex Service in January have been bought by three former members of their management team.

The centres are to be rebranded Nationwide Autocentres.

Behind the acquisition are Tom Dunn, a former operations director of the chain, who is now managing director of the new company. He is joined by regional directors David Staniland and Roy Mitchell, both long-serving members of the Autocentres' management team.

Mr Dunn said: "There is a clear opportunity in the vehicle servicing market for a company which offers local fleet and retail drivers up-front pricing and service of the highest quality.

He said the centres will offer high quality, fixed price servicing for retail and fleet vehicle customers.

The company plans to expand the number of centres aggressively through further acquisitions and new sites.

The acquisition was backed by NBGI Private Equity, a private equity fund focussing on traditional economy companies.

The centres acquired are at Acton, Banbury, Bridgwater, Bristol Fleet, Chelmsford, Cotteridge, Crawley, Croydon, Darlington, Doncaster, Eastbourne, Enfield, Glasgow, Gloucester, Harrow, Hendon, Hertford, Ilford, Isle of Wight, Keighley, Low Road (Leeds), Brougham Street (Leicester), Letchworth, Luton, Mansfield, Middlesborough, Rutherglen Middleton, Newbury, Newport (Gwent), Olton, Pokesdown, Scunthorpe, Sevenoaks, Eyre Street (Sheffield), Slough, Stourbridge, Strood, Sutton Coldfield, Wakefield, West Ealing and Woking.

Lex Service retains control of 96 Autocentres.